their niche is huge. You won’t hear a
timely protest song, or some cameo by
an of-the-moment rapper from AC/DC.
They have no ambition other than to be
AC/DC and to keep homing in on the
same themes that have sustained them
across 16 albums.
Those themes usually revolve around
cutting loose and giving in to sin. Think
‘You Shook Me All Night Long’, with
its randy innuendoes at every turn, and
songs like ‘Jailbreak’, ‘Thunderstruck’,
‘Back in Black’, ‘TNT’ and ‘Highway to
Hell’. They’re salutes to the dark side,
to pushing yourself past the limit in the
name of a good time. Often that good time
involves the promise of a romantic (or at
least carnal) encounter, as with ‘Whole
Lotta Rosie’ and ‘Girls Got Rhythm’.
But AC/DC’s richest lode has always
been rock’n’roll. At least 20 of their
songs cite ‘rock’ in the title, resulting in
such enduring genre-proud declarations
as ‘For Those About to Rock (We
Salute You)’, ‘That’s the Way I Wanna
Rock’n’Roll’, ‘Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise
Pollution’ and ‘Can’t Stop Rock’n’Roll’.
All those single-minded titles might
Any number of musical heavyweights
have chimed in with their own versions,
from Marilyn Manson to Shania
Twain. Believe it or not, Celine Dion
has covered ‘You Shook Me All Night
Long’ live, even mimicking Angus
Young’s moves, and the Indigenous
band Yothu Yindi did a thrilling
version of ‘Jailbreak’ for an Australian
tribute compilation in 1995, which
also featured Spiderbait, The Meanies
and Regurgitator. Actually, the
entire pantheon of heavy metal owes
something essential to the relentless
riffing and howled slogans that AC/DC
turned into a hard-bitten art.
Then there’s the continued success
of young Australian band Airbourne,
who take every available cue from their
forefathers. Meanwhile, Melbourne’s
ACDC Lane is home to the rock-loving
music venue Cherry Bar, and the
city’s Swanston Street will forever be
cherished as the setting for AC/DC’s
rocking-out-in-a -flatbed-truck video
for the 1975 hit ‘It’s a Long Way to
the Top (If You Wanna Rock’n’Roll)’.
That’s despite the band not even coming
seem like the stuff of parody – like
the set list of a struggling, local rock
band who won’t admit that times or
tastes have changed – but for AC/DC
they’re heart-on-sleeve valentines to
the burning spirit that birthed them.
Rock’n’roll isn’t something you pay
homage to early on and then take for
granted. It’s something that requires
homage every day.
Regardless of their tight focus,
AC/DC’s songs have been translated
into just about every genre, from
classical to country to electronic. The
US death-metal band Six Feet Under
cut a track-by-track covers album
of Back in Black, and soft-singing
indie balladeer Mark Kozelek (Red
House Painters, Sun Kil Moon) has
reinterpreted songs from the Bon Scott
era in heartbreaking acoustic form.
The bluegrass-themed covers band
Hayseed Dixie started their career
reworking AC/DC, Vitamin String
Quartet recorded Back in Baroque as
an orchestral tribute and there are at
least two all-female AC/DC tribute
bands: Hell’s Belles and AC/DShe.
FOUR-FIFTHS OF AC/DC
16 THE BIG ISSUE 16 – 29 OCT 2015